Things of Great Amusement

Some things on the island that are amusing me immensely:

1. The colourful, and immobile, bikes at the nursery school. There is a nursery school right next to the primary school where I teach, and every now and then I hear a squeal of metal wheels spinning round and round and I look out the window to see little children with big heads and skinny limbs pedaling furiously on stationary metal toy bikes. I love how they just keep pedaling as fast as possible and seem oblivious to the fact that they're not actually moving, but they keep pedaling and smiling and continuing their own little adventures.

2. The street dogs on the island. There is an immense variety of dogs here on the island that no one in particular seems to own, but the dogs seem to be very well fed off scraps from food stalls on the streets. So they just lie around and look dopey and happy. There's even a dog at the school who lies on the basketball court and protects the children.

3. The tourists, though this is more irritation than amusement. There is an astounding amount of very bored-looking tourists (mostly European) here with extreme tans and awful tribal tattoos. These people look as enthusiastic about life as panda bears are about the idea of having sex. Thankfully, the majority of the tourists go off on diving courses during the day and leave the island quite empty and peaceful. Also, I have noticed that the evolutionary process in the Northern Hemisphere has rendered the legs of such tourists rather inert. So they spend their days tearing up and down the streets on motorbikes and scooters. Epic fail.

I went to a Muay Thai boxing match last night with Rob, who's doing Muay Thai training for a month. Muay Thai is a Thai form of kickboxing, and the match itself was excellent and exciting. The fighters are so calm and focused but strike with power and precision. A couple of guys were knocked out cold within the first round.

It's very hot here and hard to sleep at night - with the additional support of one very confused rooster outside my hotel who seems to think that it's sunrise every hour or so at night. Time to go plan my next lesson now, and then maybe hit the beach a bit later.

Love to all!